Brookside re-elects all incumbents for Board of Trustees

By Sarah Matott

The Daily Record

Posted:
11/08/2016 09:48:50 PM MST

All three incumbents retained their seats on the Brookside Board of Trustees.

Incumbent Arlin Bolkema received most of the votes with 81 votes or 23 percent, James Garcia Sr. came in with the second most votes with 74 votes or 21 percent and Kirk Pollard received 59 votes or 17 percent.

Challengers Judy Calhoun came in with the third most votes with 52 votes, John Herndon received 33 votes and Claude Nolan Calhoun received 45 votes.

This small community, which lies at the edge of Cañon City, is facing many of the same issues as other towns.

Roads, parks and water were three of the main topics candidates fielded at a forum Sept. 6.

According to a news release, "the two persons receiving the highest number of votes elected to the Board of Trustees will serve four-year terms of office; the remaining trustee will serve a two-year term."

Bolkema and Garcia will serve the four-year term and Pollard will serve the two-year term.

There wasn't too many differences among candidates as they all agreed on the basics, such as fixing potholes as top priority when approaching road repairs.

Bolkema in September's forum said he is one of the town's volunteers who handle a lot of the equipment maintenance, as well as the mowing and spraying for Brookside.

"I do it because I love it here," Bolkema said.

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Incumbent Kirk Pollard was strong about his opinion on potholes, stating Brookside needed to fix their roads.

"Many of our roads are paved with chip seal, which is tar and gravel, and you cannot put concrete on that," Pollard said, explaining that it is best if a Trustee has full knowledge of Brookside.

Topic also discussed included how to keep the park maintained, as well as the wildlife that frequently visits the park.

However, all six candidates stood out most when discussing how they could be a positive leader on the board.

Garcia said that he enjoys being on the board and working for the town's citizens to better improve life in Brookside, adding that he will continue working hard in all areas.

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